Debra Rae | 16 Apr 2016
“Freedom
from religion” is better understood as switching religion from one brand to
another. Secularism and religion sport their own distinctive vocabulary, sacred
symbolism, grand metanarrative, exclusive truth exercised by faith, code of
ethics/morality, creed, rituals, evangelism, and discipleship. Logically, to
discard religion is to separate from all of the above, but secularism instead
exhibits them.
Rituals (Superstition, De-baptism,
Confirmation, Invocations and Prayer)
“Luck”
smacks of superstition. Even so, Freedom from Religion Foundation co-president
Annie Laurie Gaylor is named as one of the “lucky” eighteen percent of fellow
members who grew up freethinking. As such, she was “spared baptism by water,
fire or Sunday school.” Officially renouncing the primitive rite of baptism to
which “the luckless” were so cruelly subjected, participants exchange creeds,
dogmas, and alleged superstitions of one belief system with those of another.
This they do by obtaining genuine De-Baptismal Certificates. (No joke!)
Extracting
themselves from any claims of religious affiliation or membership based on
baptismal records, secularists join and pay dues (i.e., tithes and offerings)
to the fellowship of Freedom from Religion. Congregants aggressively challenge prayer spaces at the
University of Iowa, for example; however, following the Supreme Court’s
injudicious decision “blessing” sectarian prayer, the Foundation rewards
freethinkers who ask for equal time to give secular invocations.[i]
·
Celebratory
Music Ministry
At the Reason Rally June
2016, celebration of secularism at the Lincoln Memorial will be paired with
entertainment and parties that draw hand-clapping, arm raising, closed-eyes enthusiasts
eager to sway to the beat of hip-hop artist Baba Brinkman, songwriter-artist
Sophia Kameron, and Keith Lowell Jensen of Atheist Christmas fame. This is one
Camp Meeting secularists don’t want to miss![ii]
Discipleship
In
accord with the Bible, “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate
the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the
other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.”[iii]
Even as Christians serve God,
secularists are busy about the work of their master, mammon—this, by vigorously contesting what they view as
unsavory practices in the public forum and bad legislation.[iv]
As
churches target youth, so do secularists. Last year Thomas Sheedy served as
event organizer for the Long Island Atheists (i.e., youth ministry).
Furthermore, this high school senior was granted a student activist award of
$5,000 for founding the Secular Student Alliance at Ward Melville High School
in East Setauket, New York. Fifty-one students (i.e., converts) expressed
interest, a teacher heeded the call to become their adviser (i.e., pastor-teacher),
and goals were set (i.e., vision).
Giving
Testimony; Evangelism with Promise of “A More Excellent Way”[v]
To the biblical phrase,
“The fool hath said in his heart, there is no God,” secularists add, “But the
wise person says it out loud.”[vi]
Through a television ad, for example, Ron Reagan describes himself as “an
unabashed atheist, not afraid of burning in hell.” In
a newspaper article about his nonbelief, honorary FFRF Board member Daniel C.
Dennett wrote, “I’ve come to realize it’s time to sound the alarm.” Heeding the call, evangelists Richard
Dawkins, Mike Newdow, and Steven Pinker promote non-theism as their “critical
work.”
What better way to
evangelize than by campaigning through FFRF’s “I'm Secular and I Vote”
Campaign? In coordination with other major free thought associations,
chapters across the nation spread the word via paid digital media, national TV
ads, and efforts to mobilize students on college campuses.[vii]
Tax
Deductible Financial Giving
FFRF
is a member of Atheist Alliance International, the Secular Coalition for
America, and the Richard Dawkins Non-Believers Giving Aid. As is the case with
churches and their ministries, all dues and donations on behalf of “nonbelief
relief” are tax-deductible.
Persecution
Assuaged by Promise of a Sweet By and By
In Sheedy’s view,
“Christians will not find a speck of dust on our nation's soil where they are
persecuted as a group.” Many Christians (myself included) disagree.[viii]
Nonetheless, having abandoned
his childhood indoctrination into Roman Catholicism, Sheedy sought legal aid
for his struggles. In his view, every
state in the country is under threat of scorn from whom he characterizes as “the
losing majority.”
·
Heaven/Hell
Secularists
reference their own versions of heaven and hell. Indeed, FFRF conventions
welcome “hell-bound atheists.” In musing about “Somewhere
Over the Rainbow,” freethinking lyricist Yip Harburg wishes upon a star (i.e.,
prays). Waking up in some ethereal place where clouds are far behind him, Yip’s
troubles melt like lemon drops (i.e., heaven).[ix]
Conclusion
For
secularists to declare
freedom from religion is folly
because humanism (whether secular or cosmic) fully qualifies as a religion. As the saying
goes, “If it looks like a duck,
swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck.” In America, folks are free
to follow the dictates of conscience. When secularists demand a voice in the
public arena, they are exercising their First Amendment right. The same right applies
to Jews and Christians.
In
the words of Coretta Scott King, “I don't believe you can stand for freedom for one
group of people and deny it to others.”[x]
Accordingly, Rosa Parks hoped to be remembered as a person who wanted to be
free so others would be free as well.[xi]
For secularists to deny
fellow religionists right to “free exercise” is to undercut and possibly even
forfeit their own right. George Washington warned, “If the freedom of
speech is taken away, then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the
slaughter.”[xii] A word to the wise: Especially in an
election year, even self-serving secularists do well to champion the First
Amendment right for all Americans.
[iii] Matthew 6:24—“No man can serve two masters: for either he will
hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise
the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.”
[iv] “Congress shall make no
law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise
thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of
the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress
of grievances.” Amendment 1 of the Constitution
of the United States of America (15 December 1791)
[v] 1 Corinthians 12:31—“
But covet earnestly the best gifts; and yet shew I unto you a more excellent
way.”
[vi] Psalm 14:1, 53:1—“The fool hath said in his heart,
‘There is no God.’ They are corrupt; they have done abominable works; there is
none that doeth good.” (Curiously, the Hebrew words rendered fool in
the book of Psalms denote one who is morally deficient.)
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